"But I'm telling you, I saw them! I swear I did, really REALLY I did!"
"Will you stop saying that, there's NO "cool rock things" there, you probably just saw some coral again."
"But I didn't! ... A-Again. ... I promise you, it's not coral shaped like a thing this time, they're living rocks shaped like living things."
"Silverstream, you're just making sharks out of minnows again. Why don't you go and clear your head for a while, huh?"
.......
With those thoughts going through her head Silverstream went and did just that, through the very clear and calm waters of the nightfall. She was a fairly young creature, not exactly a pony but she did have quite a bit of equine in her anatomy: a pony head mainly. The rest of her however was anything but pony, or at least land pony. For one thing, this creature was seemingly only half pony, with the lower half of her body being that of a fish (no cutie Mark included). Her body was light in magenta smooth skin rather than any fur, and instead of a mane she had a dorsal fin though it did style up to look like a mane, colored a light blue along with her long tail fin. This was a prime Seapony swimming along the water tonight, and on this night she had a target in mind. Evidence and/or proof that she wasn't lying to her friends off back home.
Swimming along, occasionally breaching the water like any dolphin would, she began to reach an area further away from where she was earlier. Nothing much close to her home, but it did hold a bit of flair to the sea where she was coming from.
A building. A clamshell-shaped building just sitting out in the middle of the ocean. Nothing they had made that was for sure, but nothing the Seaponies honestly had to bother themselves with. Silverstream knew this place at least somewhat though, and without hesitation she swam out of the water into the bridge nearby. Where the bridge went to, she didn't care really, and instead she focused on checked the building a little bit, as best a Seapony could.
"Hello?! Rock things! You back yet?!" Silverstream called, good and loud. She even knocked on the front door, which itself also looked like a giant clamshell.
Nothing.
"Mane. What a bummer ..." Silverstream sighed. What was she gonna do now? Go back home with nothing to show again? It was disappointing: the first visitors to this spot in stars knows how long, and no one's believing Silverstream in any of it, nor was there anyone even there to talk to. Silverstream acted like she was gonna go, whistling a little bit and sliding off a bit ... only to bolt back again as if the door will just open up to show them.
"Come on, that didn't work either? Fine," Silverstream said in disappointment. Nothing again. The Seapony went slowly to the edge of the bridge, sitting along the rim and looking out to the ocean. She thought about what to even do, but as she kept thinking there was something way high in the air that caught her attention.
It looked like a star. An especially shiny one.
"Oh, mr. distant beckoning star. I wish I wish I WISH one of those super cool rock things would come back. Maybe then I can show my friends they actually exist," said Silverstream, her frontal fins together in a sort of childish plea to the blinking, flickering star high above her head. As if responding to her wish, the star way off into the distance began to slowly grow brighter and brighter … and closer … and closer …
"... And I wish the star DOESN'T HIT ME! AAHH!" Silverstream bolted up to her feet and quickly bolted away from the edge towards some seaside rocks as this "beckoning star" started to hone in very close to her and the giant clamshell. The Seapony covered her head with her front fins, ready to hear the explosion of this oncoming star … but that kind of noise wasn't going to happen. Instead, Silverstream took a few seconds to lift a fin off her ear, and instead of hearing an explosion, she heard instead the sound of energy. The blue light she saw in the sky was suddenly connected right inside the clamshell.
So she did the sensible thing and jumped out of her hiding place, sliding right on over to those large shell doors. She may be very small compared to the giant doors, but a Seapony was not a species that gave up on anything. At least THIS seapony wasn't, so as the light kept going in there, Silverstream coiled her tailfin, curling her body like a spring, and actually managed to rocket herself upward to a "window frame" on the door. She just managed to grab it by her front fins before pulling herself up. All she had to do once she got a steady place is wipe away the dust off the window and look on inside.
What luck! Silverstream could see four figures start to manifest on that round circle in the middle, one of them looking somewhat multi-colored. A bit of pink, some tan and a dark brown head. Two of them were darker in color, but one looked taller than the other (and unlike everyone else, fell on its back instead of her feet) The other one looked mostly blue, but with a hint of white along the chest and back. The blue one specifically made Silverstream's eye widen, her muzzle agape in a loud gasp, as she saw what was on her back.
"Here we are." the blue figure said, once they fully came to.
"So this is the Reef, Lapis? Is this where Pearls go to get fixed?" Steven inquired again, taking a few steps off of the Warp Pad as he checked the place out. Lapis joined him shortly afterwards.
"For a while yeah," Lapis explained, "but it's also a luxury boutique for Pearls at the time."
"Luxury boutique. Wait, I thought Pearls didn't get much respect on Homeworld. That sounds like a good deal to me," said Connie.
"If you call getting Refurbished or repaired a luxury," Lapis said. Connie immediately saw what she meant like that, no longer so surprised about it.
"Oh. That kind of boutique."
"Well, that's not the big problem. Right now we need to find out where Pearl is in this place. Got any ideas, Lapis? You've been here before," Steven asked, looking over to the only one of them who was actually familiar with the place. Lapis tried to think as she looked around, hand to her chin.
"Hang on, give me a second. Even my memory here's a little rustic," Lapis said, as she began walking on ahead of them. Steven followed Lapis from there just as Connie and Priyanka stepped off the Warp Pad themselves. Connie wanted to follow, but Priyanka still had her hand on Connie's hand.
"Don't worry, Connie. I'll be right here, holding your hand," Priyanka said, one hand holding Connie's hand while the other rested on top of it.
"I don't think anything's coming to attack us, mom," Connie insisted, moving her hand away, "I'll be fine."
"Everyone, over here," Lapis suddenly said. Connie went right on over on hearing the call, Priyanka vaguely reaching out to try and get her daughter but not really grabbing anything. All Priyanka did was take a breath before she walking over towards the other three ahead of her to see what was up.
As for what they found, they stood over by what looked to be some sort of small hand structure, the original diamond symbol engraved into the palm.
"What's this about?" Priyanka asked. Lapis took a breath.
"If we're going to find Pearl, then this is the way to do it. Blue Diamond mentioned something about this before, so let's see if it still works. Ready?" Lapis asked. Connie, Steven, and Priyanka were as ready as they'll ever be, though they did take a step or two away from Lapis Lazuli just to be safe.
It only took a single touch of Lapis's hand on the palm in order to get things going again. At first it was only the hand that began to glow, but soon more and more soft light began to turn on all around them, lighting up the inside of the Reef in a soft glow just enough so they all could see properly. Everyone look around, seeing lines of circle lights along the floor reaching to each one of the clamshell-shaped doors, almost like a sort of lighted guide towards each room the Reef had to offer them.
Speaking of guides, lights weren't the only thing that turned on.
Greetings, Lapis Lazuli.
"Who said that?" Priyanka asked, almost on the spot as she kept close to her daughter. The voice didn't sound intimidating at all, but she wasn't taking chances.
I am Shell, your guide to The Reef. answered the seemingly disembodied voice. No one else was with them, although that didn't mean they weren't still looking for something. Lucky for Priyanka Lapis helped fill her in.
"It's an AI," Lapis simply answered, before looking up and explaining to Shell "Hey Shell. Me and my friends are here looking for a Pearl that might've been dropped off here?"
Understood. said Shell, A Pearl was indeed dropped off here earlier today, on request from her Hessonite for repair.
"Repair, yes! Just what we wanted to hear," said Steven, "You know where she might be?"
Yes, Pink Diamond. Follow the illuminated path to the Care Center. Shell said, illuminating the circle lights in question just a little bit brighter than the others towards the care center door. Hearing "Pink Diamond" though did give Steven a bit of an uneasy feeling.
"Um, no, I'm Steven Universe," Steven corrected.
My apologies for the confusion, Steven Universe.
"It's okay," Steven said. That was handled surprisingly quick, and good thing too, because he did not want to keep being confused like that anymore. Connie though went over towards Steven's side.
"How'd she know what gem you are?" Connie whispered.
"I don't know, but that's not important," Steven said, walking along the path right over to the door, unaware at first that Shell was already opening the door for him as he turned back to the others briefly, "Let's just go in, find Pearl, and then get back home. She could be anywhere in here, so we should split up, and check every bit of this -"
"Steven," Lapis cut in. Steven stopped talking, but all Lapis had to do was point behind him. Steven turned around on seeing that, and sure enough the room behind him opened up, and one more person was standing literally right behind him.
"... Oh. There you are," Steven bluntly said. ALL the time they could've spent searching the Reef was just tossed aside, the Gem in question standing right there at attention as typical Pearls tend to do, hands together and that same smile on her face as when they last saw her.
"Hello everyone," said Pearl, hand raised, "Greetings especially, my Ms. Maheswaran."
"Pearl, you don't have to call me that. Just call me Connie," Connie insisted.
"As you wish my - … Connie," Pearl said. But names was the last thing they had to worry about, because as she stood there smiling to them, they all could see plain as day that her gemstone was NOT fixed. In fact, it almost looked worse than when they saw her at the arena, Pearl's body beginning to flicker again like a bad hologram. Everyone felt a shiver run through them.
"Your gemstone's still broken. I don't get it, it should've been fixed by now," Lapis said. Before any of them could respond, their gazes went up as Shell spoke again.
While I am capable of mending any physical damage to a Pearl, this one kept refusing to enter the Care Center without the company of her owner. Shell explained, Pearl seemingly unfazed by her own injury despite the damage. Just another reminder of how much amnesia Pearl had been stuck with over Rejuvenating.
"Well good thing you had me come," said Connie, walking over towards Pearl and holding her hand (after it stopped glitching that is), "Let's go get you fixed up before it gets worse."
"I feel perfectly fine," insisted Pearl, "You don't have to go this far for something so trivial."
"Trivial? It's not trivial!" Connie retorted, "Come on. Soon, we can all put this and the past behind us."
With Connie leading the way, bringing Pearl with her, everyone else started to follow them on into the hallway in question. They might have found her, but they couldn't risk bringing her out of the place, and if they can get her fixed here then it should be good to stick around. Besides, the main mission was already done so there wasn't a point in rushing back home just yet.
As they began to go in, Silverstream was still watching the whole thing unfold in front of her. In fact, she had to close her own gaping muzzle with her fins, but still she was far too psyched.
"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! I gotta tell cuz about this. She'll laugh!" Silverstream figured, before leaping off of her own balcony and right into the water below. Seaquestria will be so psyched when they hear this, she just knew it.
~~~~~~
Please feel free to take your time looking through the latest accessories and appearance modifiers as we make our way to the Care Center
The first room of the Reef they visited and already they were starting to feel somewhat impressed with it all. The hallway leading up to the Care Center itself looked surprisingly maintained for being abandoned for thousands of years, hardly even any dust gathering up anywhere on the floor, or wall, or ceiling, which by the way looked very regal and elegant like some of the rooms in the Diamond Palace. As with much of the Reef, the hallway made them all feel pretty small, but it still was stylized.
It also seemed to help the idea that there were quite a few displays set up all around them for them all to observe and take in as they walked along towards the other door. Many items and even a few holograms were set up in such a way, it almost was like going through a clothes shop or something. The different holograms had different pearls styled in all sorts of outfits, hairstyles, and other accessories like a mannequin would, as other displays ranging from containers of blush to keepsakes like fans or ribbons were presented alongside these. Some were on shelves, some on flat floating platforms, one was even on what looked like white coral.
"It's amazing. It's just like how I remembered it," Lapis said as they walked on.
"Getting a rush of nostalgia?" Steven asked at a point.
"I guess I am. Even after thousands of years, and it still hasn't changed at all. Actually … it looks pretty clean," Lapis noted. She kneeled down and even rubbed her hand on the floor surface. Thousands of years would easily grim up even the cleanest surface, but this one still looked so clean it was like it never was abandoned at all. Her reflection in the smooth surface was as clear as looking into a pond. As Lapis was pondering on this, Pearl was actually looking around at the modifiers herself, seeing just what kind of additions she could probably do in order to better please Connie.
"I don't see anything wrong here. Wonder why it got abandoned?" Steven wondered, scratching his head. Typically something like this would be abandoned for a number of reasons: not efficient enough, the colony not being good, things like that but they couldn't see a reason why this boutique would just not be functional anymore.
"Oh my, look at these darling fans," Pearl said at a point, finding a good amount of stylized fans on display for her to see.
"Pearl, careful!" Connie insisted, trying not to have Pearl's gemstone get hurt anymore than it has. Pearl got one of the fans off of the display to test it out, going into a more elegant sort of dance with the fans at her use. Even if being cracked up and all, her steps were just as fluent and smooth as ever, elegance flowing through each movement with the fans. She ended this display with a ballerina's balance on one foot, a fan in each hand opened and spread out alongside her
… Only for her to glitch, and fall to the floor. The sound of the fall caught the attention of everyone else.
"Pearl!" gasped Lapis, she and Steven helping Pearl get back up onto her feet. A bit shaky, but lucky for them the gemstone wasn't damaged any further than it was already.
"What're you doing?" Connie asked. Pearl felt more embarrassed if anything.
"I-I'm sorry, my Maheswaran, something just kinda came over me. U-Uh, feel free to punish me how you see fit," Pearl said.
"What, no I - … Pearl, let's just keep going. We can check this stuff out after getting you repaired," Connie said, taking Pearl by her hand and bringing her along towards the other end of the hall, a more brisk pace this time in case Pearl tried anything again. They didn't need her to shatter herself for the sake of making Connie happy. However, unknowing to most of them, Pearl actually was … smirking. To Priyanka. It was a smirk that said "she likes me more than you".
"Did she mean to do that?" Priyanka thought, not getting the full picture.
But they didn't have time to work out that, they got a Pearl to mend. So without anymore hesitation, they went right on to the back door, which itself easily opened up thanks to Shell, and showing them to the … surprisingly empty room.
Welcome to the Care Center. We have everything here to update or repair any Pearl.
Just the information they want to hear. The room itself was widely-spaced, everything looking as clean and as well-maintained exactly as Lapis last time saw it. The only main thing in the room was a cyan blue platform at the center of it. Not exactly a Warp Pad, but a platform nonetheless.
"It looks so nice in here," Lapis commented.
"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Steven, as Connie brought Pearl right over towards the platform before anything else, Priyanka walking alongside her. Lapis turned to Steven, having a sort of perplexed look about the whole "staying clean" thing.
"Well sure, that's good, but this place wasn't operating for thousands of years. How can it still look so well-kept if there's no one here?" Lapis questioned.
"Self-cleansing? That's a thing AI can usually do, Shell can do it too right?" Steven figured. It wasn't that much to think about compared to, well, everything else. Lapis Lazuli though was still a little skeptical about it. Shell could do a lot of things, but there was some things it couldn't manage without at least one staff member to handle.
"Um … no. No, Shell can't do that," Lapis said. Steven felt a little uneasy again.
Looking over, Pearl was now standing on the platform at the center of the room. Connie and Priyanka stepped back as Pearl simply stood there and waited for Shell to handle her repairs on her.
Scanning in Progress. Shell stated. Upon mention, Pearl looked down to her feet, seeing a small light blue ring beginning to rise up from the floor. Pearl, smiling and closing her eyes, waited for the ring to go up over her completely. She felt a kind of energy going through her as the ring moved upward towards her head. Much of Pearl's body remained unaltered by the process, but then it began to reach the ever-so-fragile Gemstone.
"oOoOoOoO~" Pearl muttered.
Almost like magic, and in a way it sure felt like it, Pearl's gemstone began to heal itself on its own. Pearl couldn't help but shiver a little bit as she felt the crack in said stone begin to disappear. Once the ring went up completely, and it disappearing itself, all of the injuries she had from the Sky Arena were completely gone.
Scan complete. Your Pearl is now fully repaired.
"Wait. That's it? That's all it takes?" Steven asked, legitimately surprised that was all it took to heal what easily was a fatal wound. Sure enough though, Pearl turned around and went right back over to Connie's side. No crack, no scratch, it even looked like it was polished up a little bit.
Yes. I understand how busy you must be, so I offer the most time-efficient methods of repair and replenish.
"Oh. Uh, well, thank you Shell, Pearl looks great," Connie said. Pearl sure felt a lot better now, though she wouldn't admit she wasn't feeling well before for her owner's sake.
Happy to be of service. We hope you enjoy the rest of your visit.
…
So with that all said and taken care of (surprisingly), the group of five began to go off on their way now, walking out of the Care Center and down the same hallway. Pearl took some time to check out the displays as Connie promised, but all of this still felt a little bit … quick.
"You know, this went a lot easier than I expected. I honestly thought there was gonna be at least one fight during this visit," Steven admitted in their walk back towards the Warp Pad.
"I know, me too," added Connie, "But hey, we got Pearl healed, and we can all go home now."
"W-Well, there's nothing wrong with getting an easy mission to do, give you kids a break," Priyanka said, trying to be respectful but at the same time she was very relieved this was all that happened. As they kept walking on towards their exit though, Lapis glanced over to Pearl, and basically got the group to stop with a simple tap on each shoulder. They simply saw her over by the fans again, checking them out and wondering as before what'll look best with Connie's liking.
"Looks like one of us isn't ready to go," Steven said smiling, as he walked back over to Pearl.
"You really want one of those, Pearl?" Steven inquired. Pearl looked over to them.
"If it suits the desires of my Ms. Maheswaran. That would be ridiculous if it's just about me, I doesn't matter what I want." … she said as she glanced back at some very fancy-looking striped fans. Even when left erased of mind, the signs were just way too easy to see. Priyanka actually took a moment to see at least one of them, the one she got looking like a rainbow-colored shell.
"Hmm … these actually don't look that bad. Tell me, are these hand-crafted, or are these one of those "made across the sea" shipping fans?" Priyanka asked. She opened it up and checked it out, though Pearl seemed to get on her case about it.
"OH, hand-crafted. But my maheswaran's right, let's not waste anytime with these keep-sakes. After all, no need to be overly-attached," Pearl said. However, during this, she tried taking the fan away from Priyanka, and while she tried not to show it, she was actually using a bit more force, using both hands and kinda pulling a little roughly. In other words, she wasn't liking Priyanka holding a fan she wanted. As this was going on though, one keen-memory Gem took a good look at that fan.
"Wait a second," Lapis said. Stepped towards them, suddenly taking the fan away, she too looked it over a bit more closely. "... Pearl, you had this just before we got you healed. You were showing it off to Connie, right?"
"Correct," said Pearl matter-of-factly.
"But you dropped this on the ground after you glitched again. … Shell? Did you put this back on display?" Lapis inquired, holding up the fan as if to show Shell which fan it was. The AI, responding to her words, brought down what looked like a small diamond-shaped attachment right out of the wall. It was only about the size of their head (which compared to Shell was tiny), and then proceeded to scan the fan that Lapis was holding through a small blue ring.
I'm afraid I did not.
Just the answer Lapis was worried about, as she placed the fan back.
"None of us did it. … Someone else is in here."
*knock**knock*
They were about to find out who. Almost like Steven and Connie jinxed it, the whole group heard a very faint tapping coming from … well, somewhere, they weren't sure yet. They looked around, defenses up with Connie and Lapis just in case they would get into another fight. And the sound was coming from behind the next door.
"Who's there? Come out!" said Connie.
"I reallyreallyreally WANT TO, but can one of you open the door?! It's SUPER heavy for some reason," said a voice, a few grunts as if whoever it was was actually wanting to open the door for them.
Unauthorized figures aren't allowed within the Care Center without proper authorial permission. Shell said.
"Don't open that door," Priyanka said, not buying it. She may not have dealt with as much as the others, but she knew enough not to just jump to conclusions.
"Okay, before we open the door, are you here to mess around with anyone, or anything in here?" Steven asked, getting the obvious danger out of the way first.
"WHAAT? PFFT, no way! But, I really wanna see you guys before you take off on me! Swearsies!"
"Hmm … no evil villain ever really says "swearsies" like that. ……. Everyone, step back. Shell, you can let her in. You got my authorial permission to," Steven instructed.
Very well.
Steven took a breath, and while everyone else was taking a step or two back, still armed and ready, Steven took his focus right over to the door. Shell went on and opened it up with ease, but maybe they should've been a little more prepared for what was about to come up next. Honestly, the other figure could NOT help herself.
For a moment, Steven was on his feet seeing something standing right behind the door, looking very excited. And the next moment, he was suddenly on the floor, with that same figure now on top of him and hugging him tightly.
"OH MY GOSH, It's really you! I've been waiting all day, and now I'm here seeing you! This is so exciting - HI! I'm Silverstream! … Eh, who're you?" Silverstream asked.
"U-Uhh … Steven Universe?"
Silverstream got off of him, a huge gasp coming out of the Seapony's muzzle.
"I can't believe it, I'm actually talking to one of the legends! EEEE! I've heard so many stories about you guys, you have no idea! Ok, maybe you have some idea, you have so many of em, anyway - *GASP* YOU'RE CONTROLLING WATER?!"
Silverstream bolted right over towards Lapis Lazuli, seeing that she still had her water fists up and ready for a fight. In fact, Silverstream actually leaped right into the water herself, swimming about in it like a fish in a bowl before popping her head out.
"And it's fresh too, I almost forgot fresh and water was even a thing! So you can control all water? That's so AMAZING!"
"W-Well, it's not that special. But uh, thanks," Lapis said, trying to calm things down a little bit though feeling sheepish. But no way was Silverstream going to relax when she was accompanying the legends.
"The legends? Is it really them?"
This time the voice didn't come from Silverstream, but instead from another source Silverstream managed to actually take and bring back. This was another Seapony like Silverstream, but she did look somewhat different. She was a bit taller than Silverstream, more streamline too, with her scales matching a more pale yellow. The fins on this Seapony were bright cyan blue along her "mane", tail, and frontal limbs, with a set of reddish "wing fins". This seapony did have a little accessory to her: it looked like a flower, but made out of red sponges, and a neckpiece with a round clean pearl resting on it. Her cyan eyes looked to them with amazement, but not as quick to jump at them as Silverstream was. Speaking of, the second Silverstream saw her, she leaped out of the water arm, and went right over to her.
"Can you believe it, Skystar?! The very same ones just like in the story are standing right here!" Silverstream said, geeking out like a fangirl. Skystar, while slightly more subdued than Silverstream, still grew excited when she saw them, sliding up to Priyanka first. It would've been Connie if Priyanka didn't keep Connie behind her.
"They are! I-I don't believe it, it's really you. You look exactly like her," said Skystar, amazed herself by the people she was seeing.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on? Connie, can you explain?" Priyanka asked her daughter. Unfortunately she wasn't any better than her mom was.
"I have no idea what they're talking about, I swear," Connie said. Silverstream slid down to Connie's level, despite Priyanka's defenses.
"HAHA, you're such a joker, of course you know what we're talking about," Silverstream said, thinking it was just them joking around. Priyanka looked down to Connie, who still was left a bit blank-faced about the whole situation. Pearl helped give them some distance between the Seaponies though, standing in Silverstream's way.
"I would like to humbly ask you to keep your distance from my Ms. Maheswaran - er … I-I mean, my "Connie"," Pearl said, catching herself in the name sake. Instead, Silverstream's eyes looked right up to Pearl's, well Pearl, pulling herself up onto Pearl's arms so her eye level matched the gemstone. Skystar saw the gemstone too.
"You even got a Pearl elite guard with you! This is super incredible, she looks soooo shiny too, it is just like a star. It was you who got em here isn't it?" Silverstream said. At least when they said it like that, it did not sound malicious at all.
"Wait a minute. Legends? Stories? It's not that we don't like those things, but we seriously don't know what you're talking about," Steven said.
"You sure you don't have the teeniest idea?" Silverstream asked, her front fins very close together. Unfortunately for Skystar and Silverstream, all they got was just a bunch of no's.
"We never even seen Seaponies before. I think Starlight Glimmer mentioned them once or twice, but that's about it," Lapis said, rubbing the back of her head. Skystar and Silverstream took this news relatively easy though, even Skystar giving Lapis a playful nudge.
"OH, I get it, you're just being polite. Don't worry, mom's gonna be so happy when she sees you're here," Skystar promised. Silverstream looked shocked.
"My starfish, that's right! Seaquestria's doesn't know you're here, gonna be so psyched when they see you've come back! Come on, let's go," Silverstream beamed, already taking Priyanka by the hand and trying to get themselves moving. Priyanka though have had enough and yanked her hand away.
"Wait, go where?!" Priyanka asked.
"To Seaquestria, of course! It's just a quick dive down and -"
"Wait, NO! No, no, no we're not," Priyanka made perfectly clear, "I'm not going to let you just take my daughter off to some random place that fast."
"Daughter?" wondered Skystar, before leaning towards Silverstream and whispering, "I didn't know she had kids."
"Maybe she settled down? Even legends can get tired after all those victories, so obviously she's taking it easy," Silverstream figured. No that didn't help anything. Lucky for everyone else though, there was a moment when they could catch their breath, Priyanka talking first after calming things down.
"Listen you two, I think you got us confused with someone else. It's nice that you're so happy to see us, but whoever you're talking about, we're not them. Sorry," Steven reassured. Skystar and Silverstream paused and looked to one another before both Seaponies gave them all a bit of a closer look. The first thing they caught was Skystar seeing Lapis's special gemstone on her back.
"But you have to be them, you even got the same gemstone," Skystar said, her front fin feeling the smooth surface of Lapis's stone, which by the way did give Lapis a bit of a shiver.
"Yeah, you got the elite guard, you got the look, you got the right attitude," Silverstream added.
"I'm sorry but we're just about to go home. We only came here to get Pearl fixed, so maybe another time," Priyanka said. She tried going, but the Seaponies weren't ready to let em just walk away yet.
"waitwaitwaitwait, you can't leave yet! You just got here. You're very busy, but just one visit, please? At least to show auntie you're actually real? It'll take a few minutes, in and out, and you can go right back doing what amazing legendary stuff you do, I promise!" Silverstream asked, almost pleading for her to change her mind. Priyanka … really didn't know what to do. She wasn't gonna trust these random creatures right off the bat, especially with her daughter in danger far as she knew, but these two … well, "dangerous" didn't really fit them, plus no one would dare challenge their "legends" whatever that may be.
"Can you two at least explain what "legend" you keep talking about? Just to know what we're dealing with here?" Steven asked.
"Oh, alright if you insist. It is such a good story," Skystar said. It was a little weird re-telling a legend to the same legend, but heck they probably were gonna tell them once they'd get back home anyway. Why wait? The group walked back into the main lobby of the Reef, Skystar and Silverstream sliding along the floor as if it were ice until they reached over to one of the shell doors. They weren't in the water, but Skystar's special tricks still seemed to work out of the water, as her rounded head fin started glowing again Silverstream clapped like a giddy little kid as Skystar worked her magic, allowing lights and drawings of the "legend" to begin anew.
First one Skystar summoned up on the shell wall was a mountain peeking out of the sea, two sets of creatures accompanying the cliffside.
"Many many MANY moons ago," began Skystar the storyteller, "There were two different races that lived right around here: one that lived deep underwater called the Seaponies - that's us - and the high-flying ones called the Hippogriffs - that's them."
Skystar worked some more of her magic again, "wiping away" the first image and then starting to show them another image involving the story, in which they showed the Seaponies fleeing the water from a familiar-looking Leviathan from the sea, but something else began to slow to the Hippogriffs up above the waters that they didn't recognize.
"One day, two beasts suddenly showed up out of nowhere: a mean and ugly Leviathan, and a giant and scary Ziz bird! We were stuck on both sides, the Seaponies were done for! … But then -"
Then came the frame that convinced everyone why they were so eager to see them. A string of light came down from the sky, for so it appeared (similar to the Warpstream, notably) and then appeared a group of figures, one of which was holding a sword up high above for both Leviathan and Ziz to see.
"Is that … me?" Priyanka asked.
"Of course it's you!" beamed Silverstream, "Look how epic you look!"
"Coming down from the sky, a group of otherworldly warriors showed up, and they fought off the giant bird! Well, they all did something during it, some of you helped the Hippogriffs and Seaponies get out, and some of you stood up against the giants, but still it's super cool."
As Skystar explained, the picture almost seemed to shift around a bit, showing "Priyanka" apparently not only fighting both the Ziz and the Leviathan, but also defeating the bird in a few swings! The Ziz bird simply laid on the ground in defeat as Leviathan was forced to flee, leaving only the warriors left.
"The Ziz and the Leviathan gave up and ran away, and both the Seaponies and the Hippogriffs never saw them again! … Of course there's this big celebration afterwards, but that goes without saying," Skystar explained.
"So … wait … you really think I … did that?" Priyanka asked, pointing to the picture of seemingly herself before it slowly disappeared on them.
"DUH! Haven't you been listening? You were - er you are INCREDABLE!" said Silverstream. Priyanka still wasn't sure what was going on, or HOW this was even possible. She personally never been into Equus before, nevermind doing anything like this.
"Umm … guys?" All Priyanka got from the others was a shrug from Connie, who herself was just as perplexed as everyone else.
"So anyway, now that we're all caught up, please can you come back with us? Pretty pretty pretty please? You have no idea how big this is gonna be for everyone back home, seriously they're gonna FREAK!" Silverstream asked, Skystar basically agreeing. They all paused and went over what they just saw through their heads.
"Steven, Lapis, … You're all more experienced about this kind of stuff than me. What do you think?" Priyanka asked, looking to Steven and Lapis in particular. Lapis and Steven looked back over to Skystar and Silverstream, both looking VERY giddy, hoping they can give them a good answer.
"They don't look too bad, for one thing. And Seaquestria does sound like a nice place to visit. I don't think even Twilight's ever been there before though, but it doesn't sound too bad," Lapis figured, wondering just what kind of place this Seaquestria was.
"That, and if we're this big in Seaquestria, I doubt they would try and attack one of their living legends. But what about you? You're the one wanting to keep Connie safe and all," Steven inquired. Priyanka looked back to the seaponies again and considered her options. She was a doctor for a hospital after all. With one Gem who can literally control water, and a Gem who was acting so hard to keep Connie safe already. And besides that, Skystar and Silverstream didn't look all that deadly either. How much damage can a Seapony do anyway?
"I got an idea: how about we go with them, and if anything goes wrong, we can just leave? No more arguments this time, and we leave right away. I promise," Connie said, being the one that worried Priyanka more so than anyone else. Priyanka took a deep breath.
"... Oh, okay. But only for a little while."
"YES!" the Seaponies beamed. And before any of them knew what was going on, Silverstream got Priyanka by the arm and was already trying to get her moving along towards the outside door (which by the way wasn't locked up and easily able to open up after a few strong pushes).
"This is gonna be awesome! Let's go," said Silverstream.
"Hold on a minute, we're not - wait don't you even -"
*splash*
"MOM!" gasped Connie.
For seaponies, they sure moved fast. By the time the rest of the group got outside, Silverstream already dove down into the water with Priyanka! Connie raced out to where she last saw them, trying to find her mom somewhere around the water. Being so late in the night though didn't make it any easier for any of them to see, frantically looking around. All they did find were some air bubbles left on the surface, which quickly began to disappear on them …
*GASP*
Until Priyanka burst out of the water that is. She was cold, wet, and coughed a bit trying to catch her breath, as Silverstream got back up to the surface.
"Are you trying to drown me?!" Priyanka shouted.
"No no no, I'm trying to take you to Seaquestria," Silverstream said. Skystar dove into the water herself, appearing again over by her fellow Seapony.
"Silverstream, only we can breathe underwater, remember? They're surface dwellers," Skystar reminded.
"Oooohhhh, oh yeah I forgot. Hold on, I'll be right back," Silverstream said, quickly diving down into the water again. It'd been a LONG TIME since they had to resort to this, but that didn't mean they forgotten how to handle something like such. At first nothing seemed to happen much on the surface of the water, but eventually bubbles began to form up again. This time though the bubbles were much bigger than before, bubbling up wildly like someone blowing air through a hose underwater. Eventually, one bubble got so big that it was just the right size for Priyanka's head, which Silverstream came back up, and helped put on her.
"Ta da! Your own personal air bubble. Sorry, I just got so excited, it slipped my mind. Anyway, here's a bubble for everyone," Silverstream said. Primitive, but it works. Silverstream got out of the water with more head-sized bubbles, passing them around to the others. Steven and Connie smiled, thanking Silverstream before putting theirs on them. She was going to give them to Pearl and Lapis, but Lapis actually popped hers before she could have the chance to.
"It's okay, we don't breathe anyway. But thanks," Lapis said.
"Oh, well in that case, GERONIMO!" Silverstream turned and dove right on into the water. Skystar swam over to Priyanka's side, her being the one to help Priyanka out swimming this time. Steven and Connie looked to eachother, just smiling and shrugging before they jumped in themselves, followed by Pearl and Lapis. Priyanka was pulled along by Skystar, as Steven and Connie were moved along thanks to Lapis's help, Silverstream keeping just ahead of them like an eager dog to show them to way.
"Don't worry about a thing. Trust me, you won't regret this," promised Skystar.
~~~~~~
From the Reef, the group continued onward, diving deeper and deeper following the Seaponies on their way to this "Seaquestria" of theirs. It didn't take them very long until the sea around them turned from the darkened blue to almost pitch black, but lucky for them Skystar still kept some light using her mane fin like a lantern, lighting the way for them as she and Silverstream continued on swimming. They kept good speed, as well as Humans and Gems could swim, but the two Seaponies at least made sure that they didn't go too far ahead, but also kept the group going all the same. The group did see a few fish on their way, but none of them were dangerous to them and kept their distance. It was a little hard for Silverstream to keep herself still though, given who they found and FINALLY showing the others back home what it was she got.
"This is so exciting. How do you think they'll react? You think they'll gasp first, then cheer, or do you think they'll just immediately cheer?" Silverstream wondered.
"How far away is Seaquestria anyway? We're getting pretty deep," asked Steven, looking up to the now distant surface.
"It is Seaquestria," said Skystar, "If it were close to the surface it would be, what? Beachquestria? Not-so-Seaquestria or something?"
Clearly Skystar followed some bit of Pinkie Pie logic.
"You sure you want to keep going, sweetie? There's nothing wrong with turning back," Priyanka suggested, but Connie wasn't too scared at all.
"Mom, I'm fine really. Think of it this way: if Grogar's looking for us, he won't find us way down here," Connie said.
That name immediately made Skystar and Silverstream stop cold, looking very spooked. Did they hear them right? Silverstream turned back, swimming right up to Connie and looked her eye to eye.
"Did you say Grogar? as in "King Grogar"?" Silverstream asked, almost shuttering. They didn't need to ask them if they knew who Grogar was or not just by their expression alone, so they just went and started talking anyway.
"Yeah you got it. Grogar's been causing A LOT of trouble for us over these couple of months. He keeps trying to destroy our home, destroying basically everything we believe in, and recently even willing to destroy the whole planet just to beat me. It's been a rough time," Steven explained.
Silverstream and Skystar kept a bit quiet at first (for the first time in a while) … before Skystar started smiling and even swam in a quick circle.
"I'm SO GLAD we saved you guys! Now I'm totally taking you to my mom!" Skystar beamed, before grabbing Steven and Connie and swimming a little quicker. Silverstream got Priyanka, Lapis, and Pearl swimming a bit quicker too with a few more pushes.
They hardly had that much time to talk now, Skystar and Silverstream moving them all along towards the lower levels of the sea floor. Pretty good they were given those air bubbles, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get back to the surface in time at this point, leading them down towards some sort of deepsea cavern, the rocks that form the tunnel flattened and smoothed out almost as if they were made of ice or glass.
"Does your mom know you're doing this?" Steven asked.
"Of course not, silly, it's a surprise. Come on, we're almost there," said Skystar, swimming just a little bit ahead of them to keep the lead.
A faint light ahead of them showed them their way …
And then they saw it.
"Whoooa … this is … amazing."
Lapis's words summed up exactly what everyone else was thinking the moment they reached the end of the tunnel into the sea light. The light itself didn't come from the moon, but rather the glowing bioluminescence that was the corals, the sponges, even the jellyfish that swam around freely like delicate little bubbles. Despite being so deep underwater, it had such a tropical and warm feel to everything, the bottom covered in all sorts of Reef flora and coral that colored Seaquestria in a barrage of all sorts of colors. The rocks along the borders lined in such a way it looked like a dome, completely sealing off Seaquestria from the rest of the world up above.
Amongst the natural features of this underground kingdom, there was also the Seapony architecture: a COLOSSAL upside-down tower right at the center of it all, glowing a warm light of soft lavender to the otherwise complete darkness. The whole building was glass-smooth, lined with numerous sets of soft blue lights, and coiled along roots to the celling's rocky surface. The homes of the Seaponies all were similar in structure, appearing much like Chinese lanterns, the same soft glow of lavender, with some mixing red and blue, adding to the world of Seaquestria.
Silverstream and Skystar couldn't wait to get moving. As everyone was checking everything out, the two Seaponies moved them along from the entrance, right to the very middle itself. The biggest building in Seaquestria, and Skystar and Silverstream wasted no time in swimming right on into it from below going up. Skystar looked down to them and waved them to come right on up.
They were treated to yet another beautiful sight just seconds after they caught up with the two Seaponies, witnessing to what they could only describe as the Seapony Throne Room. The room itself looked like it's own pocket habitat: corals, seagrass, anemones, sea sponges, any many more were seen throughout the entire room, leading up to the throne that looked to be shaped into a giant clam shell, colored a deep dark violet with a glowing rim. The windows along it were lined, not with curtains, but with tentacles of glowing jellyfish (non-stinging of course), with a white giant one right above the throne like a chandelier.
And of course with any kingdom comes their ruler, who was sitting on the throne herself. She looked a decent age, adult clearly but looked very young and regal as rulers of Equestria usually tend to be. Her smooth skin was a pale pink, actually similar to a one Pink Diamond, with her fins mixing in a light blue and a dark purplish-red for the mane and tail fins. Along just under the neck was a pale blue rim to match her front fins. Just in front of her mane was a golden "crown" of sorts, with three longer glowing fins similar to the one Skystar had.
Speaking of which, while Skystar and Silverstream were just overly excited to show this Seapony what they got, the ruler was … actually sleeping. Or at least chillaxing on the throne, one fin like a headrest for her. Must be pretty boring here. Well, no time like the present, and Skystar and Silverstream almost immediately swam right up to her.
"Mother! Look what we found~" said Skystar. Her mom though didn't really seem all too eager at first, and in fact brought one fin to her head.
"Is it another shell? Because I'm telling you, if it's another shell I -"
Then she saw who they brought. And almost straight away, a loud gasp from her filled the room, though this one didn't sound like a "fangirl" gasp. In fact …
"Princess Skystar! What have you done?! You KNOW surface dwellers are forbidden here. GUARDS!"
Uh oh. And unlike Equestrian's Canterlot Guard, who would at least surround the threat, Seaquestria's royal navy (making up from four stallion Seaponies in armor) wasted no time in not only surrounding the group of outsiders, but aiming their spears right at them on the spot! One extra order and they were either going to prison, or getting kabob'd.
"Nonononono, auntie PLEASE! It is sooo not like that," insisted a spooked Silverstream, "King Grogar's trying to take their home too!"
"That's not our problem to contend with, Silverstream, and besides how do you know we can even trust them?" the queen retorted, staring daggers down at the group.
"Mom, look at them! they're the angels who fought off the Ziz and Leviathan, we swear! They look exactly like them, and Silverstream saw them coming down right from the sky in a beam of blue light," insisted Skystar. The queen paused for a little bit, and then looked down to the group.
"Is this all true?" the queen asked.
"Well mostly. We did come in through the Warp Pad, and we did fight Grogar before a few times. We're NOT here to hurt you, Skystar and Silverstream wanted us to come and visit," Steven explained. Skystar and Silverstream nodded to confirm it was all true. The queen thought about it for a little bit more.
"Hmmm … alright. Guards back up, but keep those weapons up," the queen instructed. The royal guards did as instructed, and gave the group some space, letting them calm down a little bit.
"Thanks. Sorry for startling you like this, we're just as new to this as you are," Steven said, "So, you're the Queen of Seaquestria, I assume?"
"It's an honor, your majesty," said Lapis, bowing in the queen's presence. Thought they could use some good will after the worry moments ago. Steven suddenly realized what she was doing and did the same bow to her. The queen smiled.
"Well, nice to know you got some manors. And you are ...?" the Queen asked.
"I'm Lapis. Lapis Lazuli. And this is Steven Universe -"
"No, no, I didn't mean your names," cut in the queen, "I'm talking about your race. There's a lot of different things around here, but none of them look like any of you."
"Oh. Well, I'm a Human. Well, a Human Gem hybrid. She's a pure Gem, and over there's Humans and Gems," Steven explained. the Queen looked them over for a short bit, swimming around them to get the full picture.
"Sounds like they got more going on up there if they got talking gemstones now. … NO, that doesn't mean we're going up there," the queen said, though the second sentence was directed more to Skystar and Silverstream, which on hearing that made them bummed out.
"But MOM, there's so much up there -"
"- Along with King Grogar, and you know that," the queen retorted, getting her daughter to be quiet.
"So you know who Grogar is too?" Connie asked.
"Well of course I know, I'm the Queen, I know everything," the queen said, even throwing in some "sass" in there with a wave of her front fin. The queen may know him, but unlike some other Seaponies, she wasn't so willing to say anything about it.
"Ooooo, I feel another story coming on!"
"Don't you DARE tell them!" the queen ordered. Unfortunately for her, Skystar and Silverstream were too caught up to listen this time and swam over to one of the walls, and just like before, Skystar began making light pictures along the wall.
"Once upon a time - like, a while ago and as you know - there were Hippogriffs on Mount Aris and Seaponies living underwater," began Skystar, showing them the similar picture as before. The queen though just grew frustrated again, a fin to her face.
"Did I not say don't tell them? But HEY! I'm just the Queen, don't mind me," the queen remarked.
"FINE, I can't tell you … but if I could tell you, I would say that horned beast did show up to takeover the mountain," Skystar said, another picture appearing on another wall to show the tyrannical Ram in question. Not only did this prove it was indeed the same Grogar, but seeing that face again did give at least Steven and Connie an uncomfortable chill. How much damage did Grogar leave behind trying to take over Mount Aris?
"Seriously?" groaned the Queen, but that didn't stop her niece and daughter from continuing the story, Skystar creating more pictures of the story as she did so.
"So, to keep everybody safe, our brave and majestic leader, Queen Novo, hid them deep underwater, where he can never go!" explained Skystar, showing one picture of the queen and another one of the underwater kingdom. The second picture they all got, but the one with Novo threw them for a loop.
"Isn't your queen a Seapony? Why's it showing a "Hippogriff"?" asked Lapis. Skystar giggled.
"WE ARE - well, WE WERE THE HIPPOGRIFFS! Ta-da!" announced Skystar. Only for her to swim right up to them and whisper, "But I totally did not tell you that."
So much for keeping it a secret.
"Whelp, I guess the Pearl's out of the oyster now," shrugged the queen, "I am Queen Novo."
"Wait a minute. So you're saying that when Grogar showed up, you all just … abandoned your city and fled?" Steven asked.
"We didn't flee, we swam! You know, in order to flee," said Skystar, which basically meant the same thing just with some extra detail. Considering what Grogar has done to Homeworld though, how surprised can they say they actually were to hear them abandon everything? That didn't make it any better though.
"Have any of you ever thought of getting your home back?" asked Lapis.
"We're NOT gonna risk losing what we have up there, and since he's been attacking you too, he's clearly still around so we're not going anywhere," Novo made clear.
"But what about your home? Don't any of you want it back?" Connie insisted. Novo shook her head.
"We had two kingdoms, and now we have one. You want him taking THIS kingdom away too?" Novo questioned, swimming closer to them.
"NO, of course not but -"
"Then we're not gonna show that beast where Seaquestria is," but in Novo, "If Grogar finds out that the Hippogriffs are still alive, and down here, what do you think he'll do?"
"He'll … try to attack you," assumed Priyanka.
"Exactly, and you all fought him before so you somewhat know what he's capable of. I'm sorry about what he's been doing to you, I really am, but my duty is to protect my subjects, and if that means staying down here, then THAT is how it's gonna be," Novo concluded. She swam back over to her throne, having a seat again as before.
"But you can't just stay down here forever," said Steven, "Think about how much you're missing up there. Equestria is friends with other worlds now, you can be apart of it if you want."
"You can at least try to get your other kingdom back," added Lapis.
"We're staying, and we are one hundred percent okay with that," Novo concluded. Novo wasn't gonna take that chance no matter what the reward was. Now they weren't sure how much they could blame her for it, especially since she was actually just a little bit stubborn about it. It's no wonder the ponies hardly ever mentioned the Seaponies down here. But then, out of nowhere …
"Hang on … if you're all the Hippogriffs, then what happened to you? How'd you get down here?" Connie then asked.
"OOO, can we show them? We haven't had guests in like, FOREVER!" said Silverstream. A lot of "Can we?" came out of Skystar and Silverstream's mouths, Novo taking a moment to try and think about if this was such a good idea. They would have to go back eventually, but Novo could at least see that they weren't malicious, and even if they were, the method might prove a bit useful in the situation.
"Well, I suppose I better make sure it still works …"
And what was it she had in mind? The answer came up shortly after Queen Novo swam passed the chandelier Jellyfish above her head, which made it suddenly "activate". It glowed a little brighter, and something started to gently come out from said jellyfish, Novo holding out her fins as the object gently landed ever so softly into her clutches.
Novo made sure to be extra careful with it, as it is very delicate even when floating underwater. The object looked like a magical orb, magic itself swirling around from within it like a never-ending cyclone, it giving off a pinkish hue.
"What're you doing with that?" Priyanka asked suspiciously. Novo simply showed them what it can do, and with just a gentle tap of her fin, the essence of magic started to flow out of the orb. Directly towards everyone else. Immediately, Priyanka stood in the way of the oncoming magic (before Pearl could, anyway), closing her eyes tight expecting something bad to happen to them. She should've taken her daughter home when she could, otherwise they wouldn't be dealing with this.
… But nothing happened. Nothing painful anyway.
"Okie dokie, all done," Skystar said.
That's it? Priyanka turned back to the others, and saw they were … kinda surprised to say the least, especially with Connie. Priyanka didn't get it at first, more concerned about Connie than with herself for the moment.
"Don't worry about me sweetie, what about you? Did that magic do anything to you?" Priyanka asked.
"Forget me, what happened to you?!" Connie exclaimed.
"Connie, Connie, I feel just - … f-fine?"
Then she saw her hand. Easy sign that something had changed on her body, as her five fingers each now had webbing in between them, kinda like the webbed feet of a duck or frog. And that wasn't the only thing that changed on her as she began to check her own body out some more. Her skin now had a sort of purplish look, smooth like the skin of a dolphin, her hair turned into a large "mane fin" like the other Seaponies with the same color as her hair she had before, even her ears were now replaced by small fins, and while she didn't have a fish tail, her feet did end up looking like a pair of scuba diver flippers now. Sidenote: she no longer had her bubble helmet, but it seemed she could still breathe.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" Exclaimed Priyanka, freaking out.
"Whoawhoawhoawhoa, before you panic, just wanna let you know this isn't forever, and we can change you back at anytime," Skystar quickly said, to calm Priyanka down a little bit as best she could. Priyanka though was still in a state of shock given her transformation.
"I can't go back like this! The hospital's gonna think I'm diseased if any of my co-workers catch me like this. I look like a … a … a Frog!" Priyanka demanded.
"What's a Frog?" whispered Silverstream to Skystar.
"I think she means a frogfish?" shrugged Skystar. It hardly mattered which frog she meant though, Priyanka wasn't gonna stay like this, and she actually tried reaching for the Pearl Novo was using, only for the guards to get in her way.
"Don't you even try it, this pearl's very delicate," warned Novo, holding it away.
"Can't you change me back then?"
"I could do that, but if the angels are going to stay here, then I think it's good you can breathe underwater instead of staying with that air bubble. Plus I can change you right back to normal when you get back up there, like nothing even happened."
"You're absolutely sure," Priyanka said.
"Come on, a Queen wouldn't dare lie to any of her subjects, or any of the legends," Novo explained casually, "Speaking of which, I better get the rest of you."
"No, wait -" Priyanka didn't have time to stop her though, and Queen Novo activated her Pearl again, this time the magic going over to everyone else. Still trying to get used to her flippers though Priyanka couldn't get to them in time and the magic effected everyone else. Gems and Humans started to transform under the magic of the Pearl, turning them all into a similar form like that of Priyanka: flippers, fins and all. Pearl tried to block it off away from her master, but that didn't work this time as it effected Connie too. Soon everyone had their own set of flippers, fin ears, and mane fins to boot each one in their own color: Pearl colored a pale peach, Lapis a vibrant blue, Connie matching her mom in a brownish color, and Steven's color coming close to Queen Novo. Lapis Lazuli was the only one having some extra fins to replace her water wings with.
"Connie?!" gasped Pearl.
"Oh my gosh, Connie! Y-You okay, you're not hurt are you?"
"No. I … I feel great!" Connie realized, floating around a little bit and getting used to her new flippers. It sure felt weird sure, but after a little bit she began to get used to it alongside everyone else. Pretty soon, Steven and Connie were swimming around the throne room, finding it much easier and much quicker, laughing the whole time. Pearl and Priyanka were at first concerned, but seeing Connie having a good time did at least calm them down a little bit.
"If you think this is a great idea, I'm fine too," said Pearl, swimming over to join them. Priyanka still wasn't too sure, but seeing her daughter having such a good time, well, why should she just bother her now?
"Ok, everything's fine … everything's good," Priyanka told herself, relaxing as best she could do. After all of this was done, another guest came in from nearby, in the form of some butler octopus.
"Yeah, Jamal?" Novo asked. The octopus spoke, though his words came out only as some muffled bubbling sounds. Novo understood him though, and actually perked up.
"Ooo! Time for my seaweed wrap," Novo said, before getting off of her throne. Before she could fully leave though, she paused and looked back over to the others off nearby. "Anyone care to join me? If this is a casual visit, you got to try this out."
"... Actually, that doesn't sound that bad. Connie, I'm going to be gone for a bit, so PLEASE don't swim off anywhere … at least outside of Seaquestria," Priyanka said.
"We won't, mom," called Connie.
"And that goes for you two too, Skystar, Silverstream," added in Novo firmly.
"Promise!" called Skystar. They were glad Priyanka was at least trying to enjoy herself now, and with a few kicks of her legs, Priyanka was swimming alongside Novo as the two swam off to get their seaweed wrap time done. The two shared glances before they both followed the octopus butler out of the throne room. Silverstream and Skystar swam up to the others again.
"What're we waiting for?! Let's go go go, there's SO MUCH you still get to see! We can go craft some seashell necklaces, seashell bracelets, seashell trash bins, OH, or we can go and play with the bubblefish!" Silverstream beamed, ready to show them the rest of the town. However, while they were psyched about the whole turning into merfolk thing, the idea that Novo still wouldn't try to get her other kingdom back did linger in their head a little bit.
"Actually … you two know anything else about Mount Aris?" asked Steven.
~~~~~~
Priyanka and Novo hardly took that much time to reach their spa treatment. Just a short swim from the throne room later, and both got their appointment in and relaxing on a Spa Table. It was a stressful time for Priyanka, so feeling the Seaweed Wrapping on her back felt so nice, and accompanied by a massage surely helped her too. Same can be said for Queen Novo with her seaweed wrap massage, cool and smooth kelp along her back, and some wrapped around her eyes.
"Aww yeah, that's the stuff. I'm telling you, there's nothing better," Novo sighed, resting herself down easy on the table as an squid massager got to work on her back. Priyanka basically got the same treatment and while it did feel weird at first (these were squid giving her a massage) but little by little she felt at ease with herself.
"This is actually pretty nice. I haven't had a massage in forever," Priyanka sighed. As the squid was working out the kinks in her back, the octopus butler actually swam over to her and offered her a drink as a compliment. It looked like a shake or a smoothie with a bit of seagrass along the side.
"Oh. Uh, no thanks I'm good," Priyanka said. The octopus understood her and offered the same drink, which Novo accepted and took a sip of it.
"Seriously though, you didn't have to do all this just because we're here," Priyanka said, thinking this was because of the whole "angel legend" thing. Novo chuckled.
"Oh that thing, don't worry about it I knew you weren't the angels the second I saw you. Besides, this is a regular session anyway. It's just as good though, let me tell you," Novo said with a wave of her fin.
"You knew the whole time?" Priyanka asked, lifting up some of the kelp from her face to see Novo.
"Yep, but A: You don't look like you want to cause any trouble, and B: I wanted to play along with my daughter and niece for a bit. They really liked ya," Novo explained, just before the squid got a knot out of Novo's back fins, which especially felt good. Priyanka wasn't sure about that one, but she relaxed on the table anyway.
"I can see that. But thanks for letting me come along. I needed this …" Priyanka said.
"Don't we all? By the way, Skystar said something about Grogar going after you too," Novo said. Priyanka looked over to Novo.
"It's not me, it's my daughter. Just a few weeks ago he's tried to take her away and get married to her. Married!" Priyanka felt a cold shiver run down her back on remembering it, not to mention everything that happened afterwards with Steven running away, and Connie's recovery and all that. Priyanka calmed down again.
"As if I don't get enough stress already. I already run back and forth between doctor's offices, handling patients, filling in when someone can't show up, and at the same time I'm worried sick about what Connie's doing."
Even Priyanka wasn't sure why she was talking so openly about it, but it at least felt good to talk to someone about it, even if it was the Queen of Seaquestria that she basically just met. Novo took off the face kelp and looked over to the worried mother.
"Honey, I know EXACTLY how you feel. I got an entire kingdom to look after, and my daughters are always off doing something I don't like. I keep telling them "stay in Seaquestria and watch themselves" and what do they do? They come back home with an Electric Eel! And who needs that?" Novo explained. The octopus butler actually felt uneasy remembering that particular time, but the message was still there.
"You got an adventurous daughter too, huh?" Priyanka said.
"You have NO IDEA," Novo replied, taking a sip from her drink before finishing it up, giving the empty glass to her butler, "Sometimes I just wanna keep a Pilot Fish on her, and be done with it."
Priyanka sure knew how that feels. Ever since Connie had met Steven, nevermind getting involved with Equestria and all, Priyanka was always stuck wondering just what kind of things her daughter was getting herself into.
"... Have you ever wondered how much you're trying to … let them handle? On their own?"
"What do you mean?" Novo asked.
"I mean, I'm trying to support my daughter's interests. Be it her fighting these monsters, or going to other worlds, or studying to go to college even though she's a few years behind to even apply. But the more trouble she keeps getting into …" Priyanka didn't need to finish her sentence for Queen Novo to get where she's coming from. It's something all parents go through after all.
"I get you, how much freedom you should give your kids? Well I'll say this much, as long as they KNOW you're in charge of them, then everything will be okay. They still live under your kingdom, then you got the final word in what they do," Novo said, speaking more as a queen though than as a mother. Priyanka wondered a little bit on the rather forward answer.
"That sounds surprisingly simple," Priyanka said.
"Hey, it works for me, it can work for you too," Novo advised. Grant it, that didn't stop Skystar from bringing them into her kingdom in the first place, so Priyanka wasn't sure if that alone was "full proof".
"So … treat her like she's still a kid, is that what you're saying?"
"Well that's who she is, honey, and unless she's ready to move out on her own - why by the way is still your call - then that's still gonna be a fact in her life she's gotta go with," Novo explained. Eventually at this point the massaging stopped for a bit, telling them both that it was all done, and allowing them both to sit up.
"Well, I don't know about that. She's always been a pretty strong girl, and I've seen her training and -"
"You are worried about her, aren't you?" asked Novo.
"What? Of course I am, I'm her mother," insisted Priyanka.
"Then that's all the reason you need. We're moms, we're supposed to take care of our children until we decide they're ready. Speaking of which, they better not be wandering off again," Novo wondered. It would be a time for them to do so, but they weren't too sure where they would go.
"I know my daughter wouldn't lie to me and just leave Seaquestria without me," Priyanka said, confident in at least that.
Speak of the devil …
"Queen Novo! Your highness!"
Just as the queen and the human-turned-merfolk were started to swim up and ready to go, one of the known Seapony mercenaries came rushing into the spa room. He looked like a stallion of Seaponies, purple scales with light blue fins as well as a set of golden armor around him too. It was a bit of a rushed barging in though, enough to make Priyanka bolt up a good ten feet (and hitting her head).
"And who're you?" Priyanka asked, rubbing her head as she slowly drifted back down.
"I am General Seaspray, apart of her majesty Queen Novo's Navy. My apologies for rushing in unannounced like this, your highness," said Seaspray, bowing before the queen.
"That's fine, I was just about done in here anyway," shrugged the queen, "What's got you rushing in here?"
Seaspray cleared his throat. "Some of my patrols has gotten sight of Skystar and Silverstream leaving Seaquestria borders, alongside those new "guests" that arrived earlier, your majesty. I arrived here to inform you as soon as possible."
"They WHAT?!" Novo exclaimed, obviously not happy with this. "Seriously I just told them - UGH, and why didn't your troops stop them?"
"Forgive me, your majesty, we tried to take them back home but one of the guests insisted they'd guide them on their way. By the time we got back to them they were already gone," Seaspray reported. Novo should've put them in prison when she could, now this was going on. the queen got her fin to her forehead, more concerned about her kids than who to blame here (not at the moment anyway).
"Did they at least say where they were going?" Novo questioned. Seaspray hesitated, but the general of the Seapony navy answered her majesty anyway.
"They mentioned something about going over to … Mount Aris. P-Possibly."
"What do you mean possibly, of course they're going there! Get your patrols back together and head over there before something else does!" ordered Novo.
"Yes, your majesty," Seaspray said. After that order, he swam right on out to inform his navy about the news, as quick as his fins can carry him. Now he was gone though, the queen turned to Priyanka.
"Still think she wouldn't lie to you now?" Novo asked.
"I can't believe this, she wouldn't lie to me! What do we do?"
"We? YOU are staying here until I get back," Novo instructed, and before Priyanka can say anything otherwise, Novo swam out and just left her there.
So now what?
~~~~~~
"Up and up, everybody, we're here!" announced Skystar the second they got to the surface.
The swim this time took much less time than the swim from the Reef, about half an hour less. It looked very dark when they breached the surface, more than it probably should for just being nighttime. All the same, Skystar still kept the light they needed to see where they were. One thing they did figure out: they can breathe on land and in water.
"We are?" Lapis questioned, looking around to see, basically nothing. Well okay, it looked like an underground cavern of sorts, with the deep pool they came in from, and actually a few "realistic" horse statues that flowed their manes with water, but that's about it.
"Well not there here, almost there, Mount Aris is just ahead this way see?" said Skystar, pointing off towards a nearby tunnel. Silverstream and Skystar moved a bit slower on the rough rocky terrain of the cave than them sliding around inside the Reef, so at this point they weren't bolting ahead of them. The Merfolk had their legs to help walk about the land, but it still was a little bit slow since they got flippers for feet now.
"And just around the bend and … welcome to Mount Aris! TA-DA!"
Welcome might not be the right word, once the group finally got themselves outside. The first thing they saw, immediately, was just how desolate everything looked. All that time abandoned by the Hippogriffs had taken a major toll on the village (or what remained of it). Buildings that once would house a whole flock of Hippogriffs not were worn down and wrecked, tree branches, moss patches, and vines wrapping around what part of each building actually stayed in tact. Many trees around the village now stood bare of most, if not all of their leaves, leaving many of them dead and like wooden skeletons. Even the rocks felt worn out and dry, not being walked on in so long, and a fine fog covered much of the mountain. The most activity they could see from the entrance was dirt and rocks (the non-living kind, not Gems).
Steven especially looked unnerved by the sight.
"You okay, Steven?" asked Lapis.
"Sorry. I-It's just baggage," Steven admitted. Let's just say Spinel probably would be too freaked out to continue if she were here. The group took the time to look around the village, seeing how much of nature and time had taken over. Connie even spotted a long kettle just sitting off on a table, a spider's web still on it as if it never moved at all.
"What did Grogar do to this place? He's turned this whole place into a ghost town," Steven wondered looking around.
"We as Hippogriffs left in a big hurry, so we didn't have time to pack up and go. But who can blame us since Grogar drove us outta here," said Skystar. Connie only needed to touch the one kettle for it to crumble up, spiders coming out of it to find another safe spot, making Connie step back.
"How long were you all gone?" asked Connie, turning to Silverstream specifically. The Seapony thought it over.
"Weeeeellll I dunno. A REALLY long time," Silverstream shrugged, though hearing something scurry off nearby did give her a little jump. It was really just a rat running by, but the fog made everything look just a little bit more ominous, one way or another. Lapis flew over towards one of the buildings, seeing just how wrapped up the vines were on the building again.
"This place is worse than I thought," Lapis said to herself, gently touching the vine a little bit. Even the vines felt old and dry, even if they were around the ocean.
"How long were you gone?" asked Steven.
"I … forgot. It's been SO LONG since we -" Silverstream was cut short when they all heard something moving around nearby, knocking over some loose stuff before scurrying away. It really was just a rat, but none of them saw it and Silverstream moved back closer to the others.
"This place is so … spooky at night," murmured Silverstream, shivering a little bit.
"Yeah … b-but let's not let that scare us," Connie said, though she had to admit she was starting to get a little worried too. In fact, most of them were thanks to how everything looked with the fog and all. Strange thing this fog though, Lapis began to note the particular smell of it …
"So, we got you here … what's the big surprise? What do you want to do here?" Skystar asked, anticipating the answer. Steven and company kept from telling them what was up for the swim here.
"Just because you were chased out of here once, doesn't mean you can't come back again. Let's try and rebuild Mount Aris, it might be enough to prove Queen Novo she can have both of her kingdoms back," Steven concluded, which was something he and the others had come to conclude already.
"I don't know about that. My mom doesn't like putting any seapony in danger, especially by Grogar," said Skystar.
"Grogar's not even here. Besides, it doesn't look like he even wanted Mount Aris anyway. Does this look like a kingdom ruled by Grogar to you?" Connie pointed out. It all looked scary, but she did have a point there. As if on cue, they heard some wood fall off of one of the houses, but that was all.
"Hmm … nope. Not really," Skystar said.
What was asked next was eerily timed.
"B-But what if he's still here?" Silverstream asked, shuttering a little bit on the idea.
"He'd have to be pretty desperate. Even if he's here, we'll send him on his way," Lapis promised as she flew down towards them. Silverstream would be all giddy, but she suddenly began to curl up into a ball on the ground, her eyes growing wide looking somewhere beyond everyone else.
"You're not going to do anything!"
Queen Novo! And the queen was not happy at all, as she got herself coming in from the cave. Novo wasn't alone too, following her was the numerous guards Seaspray assigned to follow her here, just in case something else would go wrong or if the guests would try to jump in on them. One of the guards was holding something else, though they couldn't make it out just yet.
"M-Mom! You're done with your spa already?" asked a worried Skystar, given her share of dagger looks from her mom.
"Princess Skystar, I can't believe you! I literally just told you to not leave Seaquestria, and not only did you just swim off, you come to Mount Aris? What were you thinking, bringing them here of all places?" Novo demanded. Skystar moved back a bit. Immediately they can see this wasn't gonna end well for Skystar at the rate this was going.
"Nownownow, mom, I can explain -"
"You'll have A LOT of time to explain while you're being grounded in the palace, young lady!"
"G-GROUNDED?!" gasped Skystar, overly-dramatic about it but still scared.
"Your majesty, wait, it's not her fault!" said Connie, coming in to her aid, "We're the ones that asked her to take us here."
"You? Oh I should've known - this is what I get for letting surface dwellers stay in my kingdom. GUARD!"
Then the guard placed the object in Novo's fins, turning out to be the pearl she used in the first place. One tap of the pearl and, instead of gifting the transformation, it quickly took away the Merfolk traits of all the Humans and Gems present before they could do much. All the fins were removed, their hair returned, and basically Connie and Steven were Human again, and Lapis and Pearl were pure Gems again.
"Serves you right. It hasn't even been twenty minutes, and already you're encouraging my daughter's rebelling," Novo then said.
"We're not encouraging her, we're just trying to help!" Steven insisted. Novo, already stressed again, wasn't having any of it as she pushed Skystar behind her.
"Help with what? This? Did I not say we're okay with one kingdom?" Novo said.
"You're okay with one kingdom, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. At least we're trying to get your other kingdom back, and when we fix it up, you all can come back. Don't you want to come back to Mount Aris too?" Connie insisted. Queen Novo felt a sting on being singled out.
"Of course I would, but I also don't want my subjects stuck at the mercy of that tyrant ram! I will NOT take that chance with him when even you're shaking too," Novo suddenly said, that last part almost seeming to trigger the girl, more so than it should.
"It doesn't matter, we're gonna fix it! Everything will be fine, and we can forget he even was here. We won't even have to think of him again!" Connie insisted.
"Connie?" Steven asked.
"You know what, my mind's made up. Skystar, Silverstream, we're going home NOW, and you better get back to your chores too, princess."
"Chores, what chores?" Skystar asked.
"The chores I'll put you on when we get back home, now let's go," Novo firmly stated. Skystar felt hurt, and slowly started following the queen of the Seaponies anyway. The group of Seaponies began to go.
"Is everything okay, my Connie?" Pearl asked.
"Yep, but this isn't about me! Give me a second," Connie quickly insisted, before she tried to go over to Queen Novo, only for the guards to get in her way again.
"Let em come, I at least need to change them back before I banish them," Novo said.
"BANISH? Why?! They're the angels!" Silverstream exclaimed.
"Firstly: no they're not. Secondly: they brought you both out here. This is why we don't bring strangers into our home!" she then turned to the prisoners, "And you, You don't deserve to be one of us. You think you can bring them both out here without the queen knowing?"
"Wait a minute, this is getting extreme," Steven said hesitantly, "We're not here to hurt anyone, we made that crystal clear!"
"I made up my mind, so here's what's going down: you're gonna come back, I'm going to change your mother back to normal, and ALL of you are going out of my kingdom and NEVER coming back! Am I crystal clear?" Novo questioned.
…
She was the only one who had her back turned from the exit, unaware of something … glowing. Something being torn open. Only Steven's group realized what this actually was, and the guards on edge although they weren't sure what it was at first. The only sound that emitted from it was the sound of sharp fabric tearing.
"Novo? Get out of sight, NOW," Lapis said urgently.
"Ohoho, so now you're being snotty with me?" Novo questioned.
"No, I literally mean it, hide before -"
*CRUSH*
A hoof slamming the rocky earth got everyone's attention, and now, there's no hiding from him. From the opening created out of nowhere, the cloven hoof crumbled the rock underneath it. In the dim night light, the eerie glow of red suddenly started filling up the area, a set of almost demonic eyes piercing the black. What began as eyes turned into a head, the set of almost-perfect Ram horns now shown for all to see as they glowed an ominous green. Only when his body was fully through did the portal he create close up behind him, the only light now coming off of himself in his horns and his eyes.
Grogar had arrived.
"There you are," Grogar rumbled.
"The king of monsters. Protect the queen!" called one of the guards, all guards on deck aiming their weapons directly at the threat as he pulled his way through the portal into Equestria, onto Mount Aris, and in sight of his target. He'd announce himself and all, but he was NOT in the mood for any games anymore. His horns began glowing a brighter green again, taking more effort because of his cracked horn but still working either way.
"Look out!" shouted Steven, almost blindly he rushed to try and get to them, but Grogar got to them first and blasted away a bomb that turned the whole area into a blinding mess! Guards were flown well out of the village, and the entire area was blinded by covering dust and dirt for a good half a minute. Grogar waited for the dust to clear … only to find they've all gone. He felt himself snarl.
"Alright, Steven!" He shouted, "You couldn't have ran off that fast, I know you're here, and you got nowhere to go this time! Get out here now or I'll turn this whole mountain into a crater!"
Unknowing to him (kind of) the whole group did find some shelter just out of sight behind one of the rotten trees, just out of sight and out of danger for the moment. The blast alone was making them all unnerved, with Silverstream and Skystar huddled up and cowering. They did get Queen Novo out of harm's way, her with them too.
"Oh no, oh no, he's back! What do we do?" asked Silverstream.
"Keep your voice down, he can't know where we are," Connie instructed. Novo did hear Steven's name in that statement, along with the following one from Grogar.
"I know you can hear me, kid. You've lead me on long enough with your pathetic game, so you better be smart and SHOW UP!"
"What did you do to him?" Novo quietly asked.
"A lot. Ok, look, Novo, get Skystar and Silverstream out of here, we'll take care of him I promise, we won't tell him anything about you," instructed Steven.
"What about you? Aren't you scared of him?" asked Skystar. Before any of them could answer, they felt the ground tremble dangerously close to the tree as Grogar began to hear voices close by. The Ram even sniffed the ground for some sort of scent. But then he got an idea.
"I know you're here somewhere, lad. And you will come out, one way or another," Grogar decided.
Before summoning another green bomb, and exploding the nearest tree! The ground cracked, the cliffs trembled, and they all saw smoke and tree parts blast by them. Skystar and Silverstream tried not to scream but huddled for cover again, but this terrifying situation was making Connie freak out a bit too, holding her head down and trembling just as much. Lapis and her water wings kept some large debris from landing on any of them. Silverstream peeked out to try and see what was happening, but that only made her even more terrified.
"There isn't anymore Hippogriffs or Seaponies. They must all be captured," murmured Silverstream in a panic.
"Don't talk like that, Silverstream, it's going to be okay," Lapis said, just for them all to hear another explosion.
"N-No it won't! He's back, and I'm never gonna see another sunset or fly through a cloud bank or play with bubblefish! He's gonna take away everything I love! We're gonna be trapped with him forever!" Silverstream wailed.
A little too loud. Grogar heard it just enough, flicking his ear and turning his head to the tree he stood closest to. Giving a rumbling chuckle, he turned completely to face the tree. Then his horns started to glow, but he didn't fire right away.
"I got you now. I'm counting to three, so you come out. … One. …"
They could hear the spell start to conjure up. Looking around him, Steven could see so many of them getting extremely scared. Should they bolt for it or should they wait it out for his bluff? The Seaponies couldn't get out fast enough, two of them were too scared to move. He could also see that, despite what she said before going with him on this trip, Connie was terrified ...
"Two. …"
"DON'T! I'm coming out."
"Steven, don't go," Connie said, holding him, "we'll make a run for it, to the archway, and we can make it to the beach!"
"Wait here. I won't be long," Steven said. "He came all this way just for me."
Despite the others not wanting him to, Steven got up and walked around the tree. Grogar kept a good eye on him, as he even raised his hands up as if he was being called by a cop. His muzzle turned up into a grin, his horns losing the ominous green glow, but that didn't mean he was satisfied at all.
"Rats." Grogar groaned. That the bomb he was charging up wasn't done, it still floating over his head before he tossed it outside of the mountain. The distant explosion made everything glow bright very briefly (and freaking them out for a second). A second more and mount Aris would've been nothing after that.
Steven gulped nervously, but didn't leave.
"You don't know how lucky you are, Steven."
"I don't know, I can get a good idea," Steven shrugged, making light of the situation as best he can, only to turn serious again after shaking off the shock, "So what do you want? Did you come to finish what you started?"
"As much as I'd love to, no. I want to have a word with you, and I want answers. NOW!" Grogar demanded. Unfortunately it was a bit too vague to actually pinpoint what it was that he wanted, but Steven got a decent idea on what it could be. … maybe.
"This again? Grogar, I'm not going to stop helping people, not even you -"
"That isn't what I meant!" Grogar snapped, silencing the boy before he could run his mouth on him. He began to march towards him, keeping Steven's back to the wall of the tree, his horns keeping him there good and firm.
"What is it then?" Steven asked.
"You know WELL what it is. You left me with an enigma back in that cave in the mountain, and you're not going anywhere until you tell me right now," Grogar warned. Steven felt himself tremble somewhat, getting the full idea what he was talking about, but should he say anything about it?
"What is he talking about?" wondered Lapis.
"I-I don't know what you mean," Steven managed to say. Ticked off, Grogar grabbed him by the arm and threw him away from the tree.
"You won't say it, I'll say it fine! Red Diamond. How'd you meet her?!"
Now it was out, the question Steven REALLY was hoping he didn't ever have to answer. Grogar's question hung in the air for a minute or so. How was Steven supposed to answer him? But the question did remind the poor kid of his experience with the Red giant Gem. Steven probably waited too long to answer him, because Grogar was charging at him again. Just enough of an action to make Lapis come out and give the ram a power-filled water punch, just enough to make the Ram tumble aside and away from him. Suddenly Grogar was talking to two figures.
"Where did you hear that name?" Lapis asked, slow and firm about it.
"You know who she is?" Steven asked.
"Oh not you too, that ain't important. What I do know is that NOTHING sees her and lives to tell about it like that kid standing there," Grogar made clear, his hoof pointing directly at Steven. Steven got back up onto his feet.
"N-No. No he can't have. Only my diamond ever seen her before. If he did see her, how's he still here?" Lapis asked.
"That's what I WANT TO KNOW!" Grogar bellowed, his voice alone almost enough to crumble up a wall or two. He stomped forward, anger filling up his own strength as just a stomp cracked the old ground underneath him. That made them humbled, but then Grogar's ears heard whimpering off nearby the same tree. There were very scared creatures close by.
"Don't you dare," Steven warned.
He dared. Instead of charging for them again, he rammed into the tree, strong enough to uprooted it immediately and making it fall over. Connie and the Seaponies only could scramble out of the way before the tree could fall on top of them, cracking and crumbling in a wooden heap. They weren't hurt, but now they were exposed, with Grogar jumping onto the tree to see who he unearthed. Silverstream and Skystar were horrified, but Novo tried to keep a leveled-head.
"If you think I'm letting you anywhere near my children -"
"NOT NOW!" Grogar bellowed, his horns activating their magic again. The ram leaped forward, and with a magically-enhanced hoof, whacked all three Seaponies aside and out of the way. He saw his target in the open, and he went right for Connie, only to be met by the battle-ready Pearl.
"I'll protect you, my Connie!" Pearl said. Connie ran away from him, but that didn't last too long before she got herself shot in the leg by a fast lightning strike, making her fall forward close to Lapis and Steven. As for Pearl, while she did try to defend her master, Grogar's magic was already super-charging him from the fleet-footed attacker. Pearl could only get a few kicks on him before he managed to electrocute her too, poofing her after a few seconds.
"I gotcha Pearl," Lapis said, rushing in and snatching up the downed Gem before Grogar could kick the gemstone to the wall to shatter it. His focus turned to Connie again.
"Connie!" Steven gasped.
"S-Steven!" Connie managed to say. Grogar moved right for her, licking his teeth as his hooves scraped the ground. Steven couldn't handle it. The mindless violence on the Seaponies was bad enough, and this made it too terrible all over again.
"STOP IT! I'm sick of seeing you hurting everyone!"
"Talk then! Or would you rather watch your love's head roll on the floor," Grogar warned, his hoof hovering over her head.
Steven broke.
"AAHHH! I don't know what to tell you, okay?! I don't even know what happened: I ended up in Pink Diamond's garden, decided to stay, and when I fell asleep, there she was! I don't know what I did to make her show up to me, or why she even did show up, or apparently why she let me go! Oh wait, I do know: SHE WANTED ME TO KILL YOU!"
Dead silence.
"... She … wanted you to kill me?" Grogar questioned, actually legitimately curious. Steven was still fuming though, groaning again.
"Okay, she said to "stop you", because she doesn't like you using her name so you can take over the world, but that means that I have to kill you - for real this time. But I never wanted to! I don't wanna talk about it, I don't even want to think about it! I've literally been working on EVERYTHING else because I wanted to take a break from you, but you just keep making things worse. WHY WON'T YOU JUST ... STOP?!"
"Steven …" Connie murmured.
This time the dead silence hung around them a lot longer. The concept felt so … strange. Lapis and Connie didn't want to believe it, but Steven's anger was also accompanied by tears coming down his face. The Seaponies, not sure of what they were talking about, kept dead silent themselves wondering where this was gonna go next. All this talk about death and violence made them feel so uneasy anyway. As for Grogar …
Take a wild guess.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHAHH!"
"Of course," Steven thought gravely. Grogar was laughing at him. AGAIN. And this time the laughing was so much, the Ram even fell onto his back, holding his stomach as he guffawed at such a idea.
"AHAHAHAhhohohoooo, ok ok, so let me get these ducks in a row here," Grogar managed to say through his laughter, wheezing first before talking again, "Red. Diamond. The Gem being of DEATH, decided that you! The most innocent little meatball this side of the planet. She wants you to try and take me out?! HA that's so ironic, I love it! It's no wonder you're not dead yet lad: Even death herself wants you bloody!"
Grogar fell into another fit of laughing. The irony was just THAT hilarious to him, it was … disturbing, to say the least. And Grogar wasn't done yet, because after gathering himself again, he stood up on his back legs and looked straight up to the night sky, as if he were talking to Luna on the moon.
"HEY RED DIAMOND! I know you can hear me from up there! It sounds like you should get yourself a new Pearl, because THIS ONE'S gone soft on you! You let him live just so he can bugger off and play with his rocks, OOOHHH that's a good trick! Why don't you replace that kid there and come down here yourself if you want me dead so bad! I'm already been dead, so COME AND GET IT! I'M RIGHT HERE and I'm tired of waiting!"
"H-He's … already dead ……." gulped Lapis. An undead zombie ram? As if dealing with a tyrannical king wasn't horror enough. Grogar waited for Red Diamond to just come down ans whisk him away, but nothing happened.
"I'm sorry for not telling you. It looks like I'm still making excuses again," Steven said gravely towards Connie. Connie herself suddenly began to think about what was going on with not only him, but herself.
"Is that what I've been doing?! I'm supposed to be over this," Connie said, her voice shaky almost.
"But you were hurt! badly hurt!" Steven said, kneeling down to her level and holding her by the shoulders. Connie's emotions started to take over her as tears started coming down from her too. Connie couldn't keep this up.
"I was badly hurt. He tortured me for days, he tortured both of us. How did you stop hurting?" Connie asked, ready to break down.
Steven hugged her tight.
"I didn't. …"
…
A light started to form from those two. They were fusing. For the first time in weeks, the two were fusing again! Great news for some, but Grogar was not having any of it, already running at them.
"NO YOU DON'T!" Grogar yelled, and shockingly jumped right into it himself! Like jumping into a pool of water, his body turned pure glowing white on slamming into it, and now Steven, Connie, and Grogar found themselves trying to form something that neither of them planned for, and neither of them wanted. The mass turned into an orb that warped, squished and stretched as it tried to figure out a form for it to take out of three different species.
"Steven! Connie!" Lapis gasped, flying up towards the orb. She tried to find which part was Grogar and which one wasn't but the mass itself was too muffled to make anything out. Try as she might, a form was already beginning to take a stronger shape. Novo nearby made sure to keep her children well away from the danger.
Something else finally appeared that night. Something that shouldn't even exist. After the transformation was complete, it wasn't Stevonnie that was standing there, but some form of a Centaur.
The bottom half (for a Centaur) looked relatively normal with the lower half of the Ram that blindly fused with it, but it was its upper half that showed its true mutation. The front lower hooves were now human feet, colored the same as the very back hooves. Grogar's fur lined the whole body until it reached the botton humanized torso where Grogar's head would be, morphing from fur to fabric of their clothing. Moving up from the stomach, the chest was split in two: two heads, with a single arm on each side along with one ear, and one horn - one full, one broken. The eyes on it looked almost incomplete: different sized eyes and irises, three eyes on each face, as crazed looking as Discord itself, with some thickened eyebrows lining the center eye for each head.
What did they just do?
"W-What is that?" Silverstream yelped.
The fusion could not talk, collapsing onto the ground almost immediately as it tried to comprehend what was happening, and what they became. The horns on their heads flashed in a reddish hue this time, something a little different from before.
"Steven! Connie! Can you hear me?!" Lapis called, trying to bring them around, but there was something going on inside those heads of theirs. The fusion wasn't listening though, their minds fighting eachother almost, the arms wrapping around and holding both sides of itself tight as the ram half almost seemed to spazz out, bucking and kicking erratically. As this was going on though, the fusion showed off one unintentional ability: a thick red mist started to emit from the horns. A LOT of it.
"Hold on, I'm splitting you up!" Lapis called, not sure if they could hear her or not in there.
"Lapis, get back down here!" called Silverstream. She tried to reach her, but Novo was not having any of it and kept both her and Skystar back down to earth and away from the threat. Lapis flew up over above the fusion, her water wings turning into hands again to try and get Steven and Connie out of this accidental disaster. The fusion did, despite its hysteria, see Lapis fly overhead, but didn't do anything at first. One part wanted to attack her, the other two were struggling to keep itself down. Something kept going through their heads however. Something that the red mist was starting to shape around them, and around everyone else.
All of their eyes glowed red, before an explosion of red mist covered the entire village! Lapis was blown back to the ground, and the Seaponies took cover wherever they could but they got engulfed in the fog anyway.
"Guys!" shouted Lapis, covering her face from the thick mist.
But this red mist was giving them more than any of then could expect next.
Far more.
"Novo! Everyone - … okay? …"
…….
EVERYTHING was different. Lapis, the Seaponies, and the Fusion were still there somewhat, but they were nowhere near Mount Aris anymore. All the old trees, shrubs, even the ground itself had completely changed from a mountainous isolated village, into a entirely burning one. Numerous cottages were covered in red, as if they all were on fire, crumbling into burnt wood. They kept seeing silhouettes of what at first looked like Ponies rushing by, running for their lives to get out of the destroyed town, all of which disappeared after running enough of a distance away, fading away into the night. Looking closer though, while some were hard to tell, there were indeed curved horns on some of them. These weren't Ponies, these were Rams. Rams that were running for their lives as quick as their hooves could carry them. Novo thought they were gonna run them over, and she got her and her children out of the way, but only one of the Goats actually ran through them, fazing passed them.
"What's going on?!" Novo demanded.
"I don't know!" Lapis replied.
The red mist filled them in: as everyone was running, a GIGANTIC red figure began to appear in the background of this burning town, towering over all that it saw. A Dragon. A large, horrifying Dragon. At first it was just standing there in an opening of the village, but quickly it started to blast fire down on everything it ever so wanted to. Building that it didn't burn it wrecked with either a claw swipe or a whack of its mighty tail, destroying everything and everyone in its path.
"Rams. A Dragon? … Wait, could it be -"
*RAAHHH!* roared the "Dragon", its giant tail swinging right down to them!
"Heads up!" shouted Lapis, before bolting and saving the royal family as the Dragon's tail slammed the ground right by them. After landing, then they found where this was all coming from: the Fusion. And the fusion was still huddled up on the ground. Whether it meant to or not, it was showing them something but what?
"Lapis, what's it doin? Is it showing you memories? Playing a game? If this is a game, I don't wanna play!" Skystar asked.
Lapis suddenly got it. She looked to the fusion again.
"It's memory. ... It's showing us its memory!" Lapis realized.
"Great work, honey, now how do we get it to stop?"
*BAAA!* *BAAA!*
Before any of them could even figure that out, the bleating over all the chaos was just loud enough to catch their attention, including the fusion causing this illusion. The fusion looked on towards one of the paths eerily facing the Dragon, and found one more detailed red-colored Ram running out into the open. A terrified small little goat, hardly even getting into his own horns yet, with an eerily familiar looking bell around the collar of his neck. Lapis and her otherworldly memory knew exactly where that bell belonged to, seeing that exact same bell on the Fusion right next to her.
THIS was Grogar's memory.
Even the Fusion stopped panicking when it saw this, though both its arms still gripped tightly around itself, be it out of shock or just worry. Baaing and bleating, this younger Grogar tried his best to get away along with everyone else, but unlike the other goats he stumbled on the ground, and almost got himself trampled from the others running away. One of the rams even stomped on him, not even going back for him! This made Grogar wail, and the Dragon heard him loud and clear. Its eyes glowing not red, but a powerful green to pierce the fiery flames. Grogar struggled to get up, terrified of the monster that was looming just over him, jaws open wide with a guttural roar overtaking any other sound.
"Get away from my son!" shouted an unknown voice, ramming into the Dragon's head. Grogar's father had arrived, along with another one presumably his mom. The mother appeared just like a goat, though it was harder to make the father out. With the Dragon stunned, Grogar found his footing.
"Peshtihorn's burning. Hurry, save him Fawn!" said the father, ready to fight the Dragon himself.
"Grogar, this way," said Fawn, trying to move him along.
"No! Dad!" Grogar pleaded. Fawn had to get Grogar to move, and picked him up with her mouth before galloping off to get some distance between them and the beast. His father stood there against the monster, but that scene started to fade out before a ominous glow engulfed him. It focused on Grogar and Fawn now, Fawn looking like she was crying somewhat. The Dragon was far from done though, and it was soon after them again. They still got ahead of it for a good while, eventually stopping once they found cover. They couldn't fight it off by themselves.
"Grogar, go to Equestria," Fawn said, "Look for the Alicorns, they're the only ones who can help us."
"But what about you?!" Grogar asked, the two huddling down fast as a fiery explosion happened not too far away.
"Run Grogar! The Dragon's coming down on us! I'll be fine, I promise."
"B-But … Okay. I promise."
"Good lad. I love you," Fawn said.
"I love you too," Grogar replied. They hardly had time for a good bye hug before Grogar reluctantly had to run for it, leaving Fawn behind as much as he didn't want to. He only ran off for a good ten yards before he looked back to see his mother still standing there …
And the Dragon's foot stomping right down! Grogar wanted to stop to save her, but his body wouldn't stop him running away from the demon of a Dragon towering over him like a mountain. Running to get help turned into running for his life instead, the beast looming in closer and closer no matter how fast Grogar ran. His father and mother were gone.
Grogar ran and ran and ran, until he felt like he made it passed a mile or two from Peshtihorn, only stopping on a lone hill in the path. And what did he see when looking back?
His whole town being burned to cinders. The Dragon Lord was really enjoying herself so it seemed, and one more fiery blast engulfed the entire village in a mighty explosion. Grogar froze, and could only watch as his whole home burned. Time seemed to have stopped. And all Grogar could do … was cry.
…….
"GAH!"
Finally the Fusion turned white once again, and after all the red mist had cleared, the fusion split itself apart by the horns. Steven, Connie, and Grogar fell out of the air before landing on the ground roughly. Connie and Steven looked alright physically, but being pulled by the horns to split apart meant that Grogar's horns … well, they weren't there. nothing but stubs now, and the horns were nowhere in sight. The ram, shaky still from memory lane, did slowly find his footing again and shook himself back to focus. Light-headed yeah, and plenty weak from the straining, but then his focus turned to the crowd behind him.
"What're you all looking at?" Grogar growled.
None of them uttered a single word. Just … staring at him. None of that could've been planned by Grogar to come out. The Ram glanced up to find his horns missing which, actually, did make him step back a bit and he tried to find where those horns went to.
"You lost everything. … Your home, your family, that's - ... awful," said Steven. Grogar stopped. So they did see that. ALL OF THEM. Being weakened though, he didn't just charge in blindly again. Instead, he turned his gaze away. He was gonna kill him anyway, this was just adding to the pile.
"Don't cry for me, you idiot. I'm trying to kill you, and you're supposed to kill me remember? Besides, loss and suffering hardens the heart. Without it, what would I be today?" Grogar asked.
"...…. Happy?" asked Skystar. Grogar growled, immediately trying to zap them off of the whole island, but with his horns gone all that happened was an explosion right in his face, making him fall back onto the ground again, though this time the attack knocked him out cold. He wasn't getting back up tonight. To make sure though, Lapis went over to him and gave him a few pokes, not getting any reaction but still feeling him breathing as she placed a hand on him.
"He's out cold. Whatever happened really sucked the strength out of him," sighed Lapis.
"He's not going to be that big of a problem now. But what do we do with him? Are we going to leave him like … this?" asked Connie, pointing to the worn out goat. That honestly was a bit of a rough question. If they let him go and he wakes up, naturally he'd try to find a way back to his army somehow, or at the least try to regain his horns so maybe just leaving him wasn't the best idea. Then again, Grogar suffered MORE than enough, and just making him suffer more, well … what would that make them? … There was one idea though that started creeping into Steven's mind. Despite his "promise" to Grogar back in the mountain.
"Hey Lapis? Connie? Can I talk to you for a second?" Steven asked.
"Um, sure. Be right back," Lapis said.
Steven, Connie, and Lapis moved aside, and the three began talking to themselves for a short bit, but about what they weren't sure just yet. Novo, personally, was a bit beside herself on things, especially since in her eyes they just defeated their biggest problem and reason they went into hiding in the first place. There was some quiet talk, a few surprised "sounds" here and there, but those weren't too severe. Eventually the three came back, deciding exactly what to do. First thing though, Connie went back to Novo, holding Pearl in hand, as Steven and Lapis walked over side by side.
"Novo? You mind taking Connie back to get her mom before you banish us?" Steven asked.
"Banish you? You just got rid if the king of monsters for us!" Queen Novo said, "The same one who caused all our problems in the first place, so I think that makes up for you wanting to come here in the first place."
"Oh. Well thank you. Can I still go get her though?" Connie asked.
"Sure, but what about you two? And him?" Novo asked.
"We'll just be taking him with us," Lapis revealed, using her water to lift the unconscious Grogar off of the ground. "We got our own plan with him, and if this works it's gonna help everybody. Meet us back at the Reef?"
"Totally. And … thanks," Connie said. It still was gonna hurt her a little bit, but at least she wasn't in this alone anymore.
"You too," Steven simply replied.
"... Am I still grounded for this?" Skystar asked Novo.
"Well … maybe," Novo replied.
Steven and Connie shared a quick hug before the two groups split ways. Mount Aris was basically above Seaquestria, so finding their way back for Lapis wasn't gonna be that hard at all. With Grogar wrapped in his water veil, and Steven holding onto Lapis's arms, Steven and Lapis flew right off and away from Mount Aris, as Connie followed the Seaponies back towards the entrance to Seaquestria. With Pearl with her, even if Lapis and Steven were to go back, she would still manage to return home anyway. They still got some work to do with Steven and Red Diamond, but for now, Grogars tyranny was at the least far more manageable now than it would be.
Hopefully the others were willing to follow their idea for Grogar.